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Talk:Enjoy the Silence/@comment-4003625-20140607234723
attack on titan || eren jaeger *do not read if you are planning on watching. Many spoilers!* So I started watching Attack On Titan last Wednesday. I finished it in less than 24 hours; that's how obsessed I became! This anime is constantly on my mind 24/7, so I'm obviously rather addicted. I just can't stop thinking about it! With this obsession also came a newfound love for the anime's protagonist, Eren Jaeger. I instantly considered Eren one of my favorites from the series premiere, but as time went on, I started to fall more and more in love with him. Now that I have caught up with the series and am rewatching it, I can proudly say that Eren is my favorite anime character, and possibly my favorite fictional character of all time. Eren is one of the strongest, most-developed male characters I have come across. While it's true that he does carry the physical strength that most male protagonist seem to possess, he is certainly not everyone's typical male character. The common formula for a male protagonist consists of one who is physically & mentally strong, one who is wise and seemingly free of imperfection. Eren, however, lacks mental strength and I can consider him one of the more unstable characters on Attack On Titan. Ever since witnessing a 15-meter Titan devour his own mother right before his eyes, Eren has been permanently unnerved. He has made it his mission to drive each and every Titan off the Earth in order to receive vengeance for his mother's death. With this goal, obvious fear has been stricken within Eren's soul. Eren is not a lionhearted boy like every other "superhero" appears to be. He is a tortured soul with obvious fears that have become more and more prominent as a result of his experiences in the real world. He is a character who is in a near-constant state of internal conflict and subsequent dynamics and growth, which is what makes him so unique from other protagonists we typically see in the fictional universe today. Along with his distinctive character traits that make him so different from your typical fictional male are all the golden aspects of his character. Eren is a kind, loyal boy full of empathy, an immutable sense of justice, and a desire for knowledge. These parts of Eren are what makes him such a lovable protagonist. He wishes to put the other people of the world before himself, and he is constantly saving people no matter what the circumstances are. One of the strongest examples of this is when Eren rescued Mikasa from a man who had murdered her parents and attempted to sell her into sexual slavery when he was just a mere age nine. Eren does not empathize with these “animals” and “scumbags.” The act itself, I hope we can all agree, is not “bad.” It is a rescue and liberation on both a physical and mental level; Eren not only physically kills two of Mikasa’s captors and cuts away at the bonds they placed on her wrists to free her, but he also awakens Mikasa’s survival instincts by urging her to fight, and, in the process, leads to her ultimate murder of the final captor. Now, contrary to the belief of the unfortunately large sector of the AoT fandom that hate Eren and consider him to be a "monster"; this is not a nine year-old sociopath who kills because he sees an opportunity to do so, nor a rage-fueled nine year-old boy who kills out of anger and nothing else. This act of rescue is a nine-year-old boy who empathizes with victims and has a strong sense of justice. What's fascinating about Eren is how he decides to take matters into his own hands and rescue this girl from the animals who have kidnapped her; once again, he was only NINE! Eren’s rescue of Mikasa only further enforces the proof of his capacity for empathy and sense of justice in which he possessed from a very young age, and continues to exist in his present life. Since he saved Mikasa's life, he has also saved the lives of hundreds of people in his acts of bravery when the Titans return. Despite the bloodlust that dominates Eren as a character, yet another interesting factor about Eren is how he actually has emotion unlike most male protagonists we see nowadays. He has solid sense of morality, and possesses many human emotions, one of the most apparent being guilt. He tends to blame himself for disasters frequently, such as when Levi's squad all die (he blames himself for not trusting his own abilities more and not transforming sooner), or when Mikasa ends up with fractured ribs while spearheading the effort to save Eren from Reiner and Bertholdt. He also cries, and he cries a lot, which is refreshing (and heartbreaking) to see. In summery of this analysis, Eren Jaeger is anything but a typical hero. For a main protagonist, Eren is noticeably dark and twisted, and has his own set of flaws. Although he possesses an immense power, he can’t always control it, which leads to complications more frequently than resolutions. His personality is violent and bloodthirsty, but in addition to that, he is also selfless and determined. Eren is most certainly a kind person deep down, but sometimes he’s just too strongly influenced by vengeance and anger most of the time for it to come through clearly. It took me a while to find it, but once I did; that's when I realized how perfect he really was, and that the world would be a better place if people like Eren were in it. I'm in love. ♥